Thursday, April 13, 2006

A Rose is a Rose, unless its a poncho!

Yeaaaaaah! I finally finished the toddler poncho that I was working on and here are the specs. (isn't it cute?)Yarn: Caron's Simply Soft in Roseburry & RoseNeedles: Size 9

I made this pattern up as I went along. It's basically knit from the top down like a raglan sweater but instead of seperating for sleeves and such, I just kept right on knitting in the round. What gave me the most problem was the bottom border. I wanted something not so run of the mill so out came all of the stitch dictionares I own (which happens to be a lot. I learned that I'm not only addicted to yarn but I hoard knitting books like a squrrel and his nuts). So I swatched and swatched and swatched for like 3 days and nothing seemed right.

First you have to understand that I'm one of those spiritual knitters. I let the yarn talk to me and tell me what it wants to be. There have been many a times when I've tried to coax a skein into becoming something that it's not and the results were not pretty. So the only thing that fit were ruffles but I didn't like all the ruffle patterns that I saw. Something just wasn't right. So I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to do and my other half said "Honey, do you have to knit the edge, can't you just crochet it?" I could've kissed him! (and I did) Why didn't I think of that. Just crochet the darn thing and be done with it. I was trying to make something so simple out to be so complex. So I finished the border in 1 hour flat.

Then my little minchkin (he's 3) saw my Knitting Over The Edge book laying on a massive pile of other books and told me that he had found the perfect thing that I needed and pointed to the roses on the bottom of the capelet that's on the cover. I kissed him also and added the flower just for kicks. I love how it came out and I hope the little angel who receives it will adore it also.

So here are the "Knitting is a metaphore for life" lessons:

- When the complexity of something is troubling you, try applying the K.I.S.S. rule (Keep It Simple Stupid), and-If your lacking inspiration, look to those around you.

I learn something new with every project I do (hey, that rhymes) and I can't wait to gain more experience. I've been bit by the sock bug, so most likely I'll cast on for my next pair of socks this evening. They'll be for the little man because it seems like the dryer monster mysteriously eats only one of his socks out of a pair every time I do laundry. More pics coming soon. Stay tuned!